Debated in Parliament on 4 Oct 2022.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling asked the Minister for Transport (a) whether the Ministry will consider extending the maximum age of vocational licences for driving such as the Taxi Driver's Vocational Licence and the Private Hire Car Driver's Vocational Licence, should the driver be certified to be medically fit to drive a vehicle by a medical professional; and (b) if this is not possible, in what circumstances will the Ministry consider this on a case-by-case basis.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) recently commissioned the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) to conduct a study on a possible increase in the statutory age limit of 75 years old for holding a vocational licence (VL) to drive a public service vehicle. As taxi and private hire car (PHC) drivers spend a significant amount of time on the road and are responsible for the safety of commuters and other road users, it is important to ensure that they are fit to drive.
Based on past accident statistics and SMA's medical assessment, SMA recommends not to increase the age limit for vocational licence holders beyond 75 years. SMA found the accident rate of older vocational drivers to be higher than that of younger vocational drivers. For instance, taxi and PHC drivers in the 70 to 74 age group were five to six times more likely to have had an accident, compared to taxi and PHC drivers aged below 60.
Given safety concerns, LTA has assessed and considered SMA's recommendations and decided not to raise the maximum age limit for vocational licence holders for now. But older drivers aged 50 to 74 can continue to hold valid vocational licences if they undergo regular check-ups and meet the necessary medical requirements.
LTA will continue to monitor the sector and review the statutory age limit periodically, to ensure an appropriate balance between safety and allowing older drivers to remain in their vocation.
Ms Yeo Wan Ling.
From the National Taxi Association members' data, the average age of our members has increased by about five years from 10 years ago. Our members have expressed their desire to continue driving past the age of 75 as they feel they are still in good health and have mental alertness.
In addition, the past two COVID-19 years have been very tough on our drivers. And many of them have had their nest eggs wiped out, hence the appeal to continue driving past the retirement age. Should our drivers pass an annual medical examination, complete with eye and hearing test, will the LTA consider a restricted licence for a senior driver driving, for example, limited hours or limited routes?
I thank the Member for her suggestions. Let me say that we appreciate and empathise with the request of the Member, as well as our taxi drivers and PHC drivers to remain in the vocation beyond the statutory age limit. But, as I have noted, we will continue to monitor the sector as we have been doing and we will review the statutory age limit periodically, making sure that we have a balance between safety as well as allowing the older drivers to remain in the vocation.
In fact, we extended the statutory age limit for taxi drivers from 70 years to 73 years in 2006, and then again, from 73 years to 75 years in 2012. Taiwan is another jurisdiction that has got a statutory age limit on their taxi drivers and their current statutory age limit is 70 years – so we are already above their current age limit. In addition, as at August 2022, the number of VL holders aged over 70 remains a minority of between 1% and 5%. So, as I have said, we will continue to monitor and review this periodically.
As regard to the Member's suggestions about time-restricted routes, as well as hours of operation, this is something we will carefully consider in our future review, taking note that there are challenges and implications in administrating, as well as in enforcing such limited, or time-bound and route-bound licence.
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